Core exercises are an essential part of any fitness regime. Whether you are an elite athlete or just trying to stay healthy as you age, including core exercises will reap huge rewards.
Weak core muscles leave a person susceptible to poor posture, lower back pain, back injuries, and instability. Building a strong core will improve balance and coordination, protect the spine, boost proprioception, tone the abdominal muscles, and boost performance in athletic and domestic settings.
In the martial arts world, a strong core protects our internal organs, allows us to generate more power, move faster and reduce our risk of injury.
The core muscles move and stabilise the spine. They include rectus abdominis, transverse abdominis, internal and external obliques, erector spinae and the multifidus.
Different actions require different muscles. For instance, when bending forward or curling up, the rectus abdominis is recruited. The opposite movement, straightening from a bent-over position, requires the erector spinae. Rotating the trunk involves the obliques. These are ten of my favourite core exercises. They are in no particular order, but I have tried to include exercises in the frontal, lateral and transverse planes. 1. Wipers 2. Side plank to hover 3. Bridges 4. Shoulder taps 5. Tuck to hollow 6. Figure 4 exchanges 7. Reverse crunch to leg extension 8. 3 leggerd dog to knee tuck 9. Toe touches 10. Elbow scissors